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The CITE, a blog published by the National Association of College Stores, takes a look at the intersection of education and technology, highlighting issues that range from course materials to learning delivery to the student experience. Comments, discussion, feedback, and ideas are welcome.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Higher Ed's Digital Use is Underestimated

“If
you still think digital course materials are three to five years away, then
you’re already five to six years behind.”

That
was Mark Nelson’s message to the college bookstore audience at his Digital
Update educational session Feb. 22 at the 2013 Campus Market Expo (CAMEX) in
Kansas City, MO. Nelson, chief information officer at NACS and vice president
of NACS Media Solutions, disputed the notion that digital has been slow to take
root in higher education.

Although
many campus stores sell very few digital textbooks and report there is scant
interest in electronic course materials at their institutions, Nelson contended
that’s hardly the whole picture.

Digital
is much more prevalent in higher education than many people realize, he said,
in part because they tend to think of “digital” as merely a PDF equivalent of a
print textbook and don’t count things such as online tutoring tools, adaptive
learning programs, and course management systems.

“About
a third of the revenues for the two largest textbook publishers are now from
digital products and services,” Nelson said. MyMathLab, Pearson’s interactive
web-based course supplement to its math and statistics books, “outsells the best
print textbook three to one,” he added.

“Most
digital business is native digital products or digital-born products that were
never print,” he said. Traditional textbook publishers are developing many of
these products and services, along with a rapidly growing roster of companies
moving into digital content distribution for the first time. “A lot of new
players, a lot,” Nelson emphasized.

He
also took issue with reports that students would choose print textbooks over
digital, saying that’s no longer a major factor. “A preference for print is not
driving purchases any more,” he said.